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The sunset over an oil rig off the coast of Huntington Beach, CA.
The sunset over an oil rig off the coast of Huntington Beach, CA. (Photo: Bundid Niyomtham)
Indefinitely Wild

Zinke Listens to Oil Companies, Not Citizens

Over 99 percent of the people who commented on Trump's national monuments review supported the protected areas. Why did Zinke discount the public's voice?

Published: 
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(Photo: Bundid Niyomtham)

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When he issued the April executive order to review the national monuments, President Donald聽Trump justified his actions by describing聽our national monuments as 鈥.鈥 Ryan Zinke鈥檚 Department of the Interior has upheld that聽narrative of聽government overreach, while聽at the same time dismissing聽the massive outpouring聽of聽public support for the monuments. Instead, he turned his ear to the oil companies when he wrote up the聽report recommending the reduction of聽at least three monuments鈥the names of the others are still a secret.听

During the review, Zinke put on a show of visiting monuments and speaking to local interests and individuals. Yet those visits often . In Utah, for instance, he denied meetings with both the Escalante Chamber of Commerce (Escalante lies just outside the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument), and the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, which was instrumental in advocating for Native American interests in the creation of that protected land. Instead of meeting with these local leaders,聽Zinke聽.听

He also 鈥攁n聽official mechanism put in place in 1995 to聽solicit local input on land management.听鈥淩ACs聽are sounding boards for BLM initiatives, regulatory proposals and policy changes,” reads the聽BLM's聽website. The聽RACs聽met聽several times a year to vote on management recommendations, and those results were in turn considered during monument policymaking.听

Then, of course, there are聽the public comments the DOI solicited online. Over 2.8 million people wrote in, with 99.2 percent of them opposing the elimination or reduction of our monuments. Yet Zinke still recommended Trump downsize.

So, if Zinke鈥檚 not listening to local stakeholders, local communities, or the general public聽who is he listening to? Demonstrably, oil companies.

According to FOIA disclosures filed by the The Washington Post, .

The paper reports:

鈥淶inke held more than a half-dozen meetings with executives from nearly two dozen oil and gas firms during the period, including BP America, Chevron and ExxonMobil. He also spent time with the American Petroleum Institute, the Western Energy Alliance and Continental Resources chief executive聽Harold Hamm. Several of these discussions covered executive actions the administration would later take in an effort to reverse President Barack Obama鈥檚 policies, such as limits on drilling off America鈥檚 coasts and the venting of methane from drilling operations on federal and tribal land.鈥

In March, . The next day, the DOI announced to operate on public land.

In April, David Bernhardt was hired to serve as Zinke鈥檚 deputy. , advocating for the interests of companies like Haliburton.

The oil and gas聽industry isn鈥檛 being shy about the success of its efforts. Immediately following the announcement of the monuments review, the Institute for Energy Research鈥攁n oil and gas advocacy group鈥.

All this paints a troubling picture of the public interest giving way to that of the oil and gas industry. In short, there does appear to be a federal land grab going on, it鈥檚 just not the one Trump and Zinke want you to think it is.

Lead Photo: Bundid Niyomtham

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